Episode 37: State Of The Lakers With Raj C. @UnwrittenRul3s

There's still an opportunity potentially to pick up somebody with UH with this last remaining UM roster spot that they have available, although I think they do have to cut somebody for that. But more or less, this is that time of year where things get fun because there's less conjecture about what teams can be and more just talking about what they are, which is more fun. But thank you guys so much for being patient about what happened

last Friday. Like I'm a man of my routine and I know Rogers too, and we were looking forward to talking on Friday, just I had something come up. I have a job that has a lot of random stuff that can pop up on short notice. So I appreciate you guys being patient, but we're gonna talk about everything today. We're gonna talk about Andre Drummond and uh and what he is going to be able to bring to the Lakers and just some of the dishonest discourse that has

surrounded him in his career. UH. And then we're going to talk about Raj disagreed with me uh vehemently about the Kyle Lowry uh saka rounding the trade deadline, and I'm really interested. We deliberately did not talk about it over the last four days so that we could hash it out on here. I have my thoughts, he has his.

We'll see where that goes. And then we're gonna talk about just you know, what the team looks like right now, uh, in this stretch without Lebron and a D because we're looking at probably another at least another two weeks, uh, if not a little bit more before we get either lebronoor a D back. So there is a significant chunk of basketball here to analyze, and we'll dig into that

at the end. Um. So, but let's start, tim And so to be clear, you know, uh, Andre Drummond, there are facts that surround him, and then there's like the unknown, and we all seem to kind of disagree about the unknown. The facts are, he's the best like uh, physical specimen, defensive, rebounding, uh, finishing around the basket, getting a type that you could that you have in the league right now. He just has a really inconsistent motor. He can pop in and

out of games. You talk to anybody who's watched him extensively, whether it's Cavs fans or Pistons fans, they'll tell you that just watched because of his inconsistency. That's what they'll tell you. Now. The flip side of that, though, is is when he's on, when he's actually giving you the effort, he is unbelievably physically dominant, and there's something to be said about that. However, one of the things that I think is consistently glossed over with him in his story

is the fact that he's always been on bad basketball teams. Now, if you're trying to evaluate him as a star, I think that's worthy criticism because now you're saying, like, he as a star is not capable of elevating a team to sincere relevance. That's that's true, that would be fair criticism. But within the context of him joining the Lakers were

not evaluating him as a star. We're evaluating him as arguably what the fourth most important player on this team now at the highest like if maybe fifth, if you're counting like a Kuzmas or somebody over over, he's not

in anywhere near the role that he was in. And if you look at the two best teams he was on, he was on a team with a broken down Blake Griffin, and then he was on a team with like Stanley Johnson and Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson and and and you know, yeah, he was bad in those two seasons when they made it to the playoffs, but the context areas they were eight seeds, they were going against the best team in the UH in the Eastern Conference, the

future champion in two thousand sixteen, and then that Jugger not regular season team in the Bucks in UH. So there So the point is is like everybody like that's that's setting a guy up for failure. And that's not to say, like I said that he's going to be some Acculus night guy with the Lakers, but I think we need to adjust our expectations in the sense that what he's going to be doing for the Lakers doesn't resemble anything anywhere else. And there's no point in trying

to project because none of us know. He might go into the Lakers and be terrible. He might go in there and be great. We don't know, because we've been in a situation like this. So I don't like the people profoundly making proclamations that he's gonna suck or that he's gonna be great. We just don't know. If that

makes sense, Yeah, for sure. And if you remember when the Lakers got Dwight last year when some home run like signing as well, people are from people who watched the few games that he was in Washington were saying the same things. He was, you know, not bought in. He wasn't going to um play with the right type of style. Is he gonna is he just gonna be a roll man? Is he gonna make sure that you know he's just a finisher at the rim? Is he

gonna ask for post steps? All the same kind of questions are the same ones we're getting here with Andre Drummond. And you know I saw that stad yesterday that the that what the Pistons were like negative forty two or something better, or forty two points better per hundred possessions in that playoff series. That was a one eight series of a Bucks team that literally ran through the regular season, and I looked at Blake. I hurt right in the middle of the series, the beginning of the series of

thin right right. The wild part about that is Blake Griffin played two games. So Blake and Andre Andrew Drummond

played both games. They were plus nine when those two were on the floor, which I mean, when you think about it, those games were thirty forty point blowouts, because I mean, if you look at the Detroit team, it was Drummond, Reggie Jackson or the NBA players on there, and then from there, that just drops considerably from just a talent standpoint, and people say is inconsistent, But what he is consistently is a rebounder, right, He's a dominant

reband He's averaging thirteen rebounds a game in Cleveland this year, like just just in that season. This season, a long A's averaging thirteen rebounds a game. He led the He's led the league in offensive rebounding for like seven straight years at one point, and we we looked at Mark is like the Javail replacement kind of um over the off season. I don't look at Drummond as like the Dwight replacement, but he's obviously going to fill that role

in some sense. I don't think he has the same like basketball i Q the defensive player of the Year i Q Dwight has, but he can do some of the same things. He can still jump. He has great hands like when he gets I was watching a lot of his place yesterday. He can keep catches lobs with one hands and jams. It just a different total talent level from bigs that we've had. And um, yeah, he's not gonna you know, he does a lot of weird

things in Cleveland. He like it's very Javail Like he'll try to do dribble in and out dribbles and trying to finish at the rim. And that's why his percentage at the rim is so low. He takes these like flip layup finger roles for no reason, which I think should be schemed out how when he plays here. But yeah, he's a he's the most talented guy on the buyo market in my opinion, Like he was the biggest guy.

There's a reason all these guys are bought out. They're not perfect players, and expecting any of them to be a you know, lead player on the team just doesn't make sense. He's going to fill a role in the Lakers got on versatility. Um, I don't know if you'll start or not, but you know, he he complained. Now they're like huge again, right they have they have drumming uh Anthony Davis gasol and now they're just massive once again. So we'll we'll see how how he plays. But I

think he's gonna fit in perfectly to this team. Well that's part was the part that I think it's most interesting, Like they kind of regained some of that massive physical identity that they had last year. Just this we are going to physically beat the hell out of you for forty eight minutes, that kind of identity which had been lost a little bit just because Mark's a little more finesse and and Montrese Harald's a little small and so

they've kind of regained that, which which is good. But I think, like you know, for the record, just just up front, and you know, there's no point even talking about this too long, but I preferred LaMarcus Aldridge, and I told I'm pretty sure I told you that I may may or may not have covered that, but I just thought the Lakers had a spacing problem and and you're more or less going to be writing a D

at the five when things get really serious. So in your bench lineups, liked the flexibility of having a perimeter shooter, really elite offensive player, uh to kind of just open things up for your bench lineups, which if historically struggled to score. Uh. But that said, like the drumming is going to be fine, and he absolutely makes the Lakers better. It just was the you know, differing, But it's no different than talking about before the season whether or not

you wanted Dennis Shrewder Spencer Dinwoodie. They were both going to make the Lakers better. It was just kind of

a stylistic difference that you were talking about. Um. But as far as far as Drumming goes in in his impact, I like the example you brought up of last year with all the players at the Lakers signed, because with every single one of them, there was similar skepticism, you know, like Clipper fans were absolutely uh like uh, just making endless jokes and slandering likeker fans for being excited about Avery Bradley because they're like, oh, Avery Bradley is completely washed.

You know, we watched him last year. We know he sucks. And then Avery Bradley ended up being, you know, arguably one of the most important players for the Lakers last year because of his point of attack defense. And you know, thankfully Dennis Shruter was able to replace that, but Avery Bradley was immensely important. Uh, same thing goes for Dwight Howard,

you know, JaVale McGee and Rondo. We had a little bit more exposure to leading into it, but there were a lot of players last year that uh that we were that people were led to believe that they, in previous destinations had been inferior players that when plugged into a system with a dominant persona like Lebron to hold them accountable, and then these much smaller roles where they could kind of devote their limited talents towards the specific

thing that they're being asked to do, that they excelled And to me that that, to me, that's kind of a proven metho. It. Now you need all of those things you need the coaching, you need, the environment, you need the star you know, persona, you need the specific role that they can slide into. But when you have those things, there are tons of examples in basketball history

of that actually working out really, really well. And so you know, when we look at what Andre Drummond does, and I think you should trust the people that uh, you should trust the people that watched these games. Um, if you talk to any Pistons fan or any CAS fan, they tell you when he was locked in, he was an elite defensive player, not just good, but an elite defensive player. But then they'll tell you that he faded in, out,

in out of games from a focus standpoint. So then what you tell yourself is that won't be allowed with the Lakers that focus slipping in and out in consistent effort thing. He'll get caught up in the contagious effort of the Lakers, who have been the most consistent defensive

effort team in the league this year. And then uh, in terms of of his specific skill set, size, rebounding, protecting the rim, that sort of thing, that is an absolutely perfect shoe and fit for what the Lakers need out of the five position when they play more like last year where they sacrifice spacing for defense. It's a clean fit and so I personally predict that it will go really well. Um, but I just I just have a problem with anybody being like, did you watch any

of drumming last year? He sucks. It's like, yeah, I don't think Colin Sexton was the guy to unlock what he could do offensively, and and and and you're right, like if he's if he's driving into the lane and throwing up crazy finger rolls, that's a problem. But guess what's going to happen Like a dirty look from Lebron and and and probably a conversation behind the scenes where he tells him to cut that ship out. So I

just am not worried about that. Yeah, and we would see Jabil do that like once or twice a game, right, But I mean that was pretty much it. He would get his leeway to do it once it would be out of the way. That's kind of how I see

it here. And it's crazy because you see people say that, you know, he's been bad and cleanland, but they say, like before the Jared Allen trade, he was great, you know, like he was really consistent in the calves where people forget I'm the seasons along, but the calves were like winning when he was playing that for that first few games. I believe Pistons fans kind of really um try to back him up as well. So he was a lot

better than uh than they say he was. So I think he's gonna be fine, um and and really fit into what we're doing here. And he's not gonna get thirty minutes a game here, you know what I mean, Like he there's just no time for him to um, you know, be lack of days ago on the court because he's not gonna get the minutes. He's gonna have a few he's gonna have like fifteen and twenty minutes a game to try to dominate. This is a contract

year for him as well. He's trying to get paid, so the only thing he can do is try to buy in because if he doesn't buy in here, then I mean that's probably his final real big shot at a big contract. Well I can get another one year deal, um, I guess. Uh. I don't really quick touch on all drews because I see a lot of people who were kind of attacking his name, and I remember you were really high on LaMarcus Aldridge. Um, you really wanted the Lakers to kind of go after him. Um, he's gonna

be great on that Miami team. I'm sorry, on that Brooklyn team, he's gonna get open looks. It's just weird seeing people like saying that he's he's washed or whatever. I think he's gonna be great. Back to Drummond, so, Um, one last thing with Drummond, as as it retains to his minutes, that I think is interesting. He the potential is there for him to play as much as he wants.

It's about him maintaining that impact on the game, and his impact on the game is going to be relative to what he does in the minutes that he's available. And you know, with the motivation of it being a contract year, with the motivation of minutes being available, I think the opportunity is there for him to show that everything we've seen in the last nine years was wrong.

That that is on him now. As far as like you know that what could get ugly is if it goes south and then he falls out of the rotation. But the Lakers always have the flexibility to waive him if something like what happens um, But I mean that would be that would be a nightmare scenario, be it would be very much to his detriment to allow something

like that to happen. Then he's looking at being on veteran minimums for the rest of his career, because if it's like, if you can't succeed here, you know where you're going to succeed. The Dwight the Dwight Howard models as a classic example in Dwight by the Way is over and Philly getting ejected from every single game because he doesn't have the star accountability that he had when he was under Lebron. So I I remain optimistic. Yeah, and this isn't Cleveland. I mean, this isn't like a

place to do that with. I mean that you know who the leadership here is on this team, and this is Lebron's team and the Davis's team, and then everyone else kind of falls in line. And I think it says a lot to those two. I think it was reported by Woes that those two have been recruiting him pretty heavily throughout this I don't know how like how true that is what I mean, that's what the report is. And I don't think those two are just gonna recruit anybody.

I mean, they kind of understand the talent at least that's there and they can try to tap into that. And then another like kind of wrinkled of this is Frank Vogel. Right, He's gonna put him in a great position to succeed here. I mean, if anyone can get him to, you know, play the correct coverages to be in a drop coverage or I was watching like in Cleveland did a lot of the drop coverage and he was good in that. Like he was he was able to take away the rim and take away the law.

At the same time, the Lakers guards are so much better defensively in my opinion, those those guys have over there, and they're gonna give him space to kind of he's not too much of a shot blocker, but I mean he really does detest the rim, and I think he's been great here. Him and A d are going to be in a crazy offensive rebound Harold as well. All three of those are crazy offensive rebound rates that teams are gonna have to deal with. So yeah, I think

that I think he'll be fine here. And yeah, it's like a low risk high reward situation, because if he's not playing well, he just won't play. That's just how it will go. The Lakers have a three center rotation, maybe four or even when you go into the playoffs, so he's gonna have to fit in and play well in his minutes to earn time here. Yeah, and so

it'll be interesting to see too. The thing that gets tricky with bringing him on at this point in the sea reason is the way that the injuries to Lebron and a D will cause him to be, you know, exposed to a different role to start, because my guesses they will give it to him a little bit in

the post. My guess is he will be a little more offensively, uh, you know, utilize, and that he will be under less accountability because Lebron and a D are going to be over on the sideline as opposed to out on the floor with him yelling and screaming at

him to do the right things. So that's where it gets a little tricky, and I think I think we need to all mentally prepare ourselves for like an initial phase of this process that could get ugly where he's gonna look like he's not a good fit and uh, kind of similar to what we're going to talk about later today as it pertains to Alex Crusoe and some of these other role players who have looked a little

bit overmatched in this last week. So I think I think we need to prepare ourselves to look ugly, for it to look ugly, and remember that there's a larger vision here that that that will present a better opportunity to analyze what he brings to the table. And it's going to be in a few weeks when Lebron and a D come back and not you know, when he plays, you know, on Tuesday, if that makes sense. Yeah, I mean it was pretty ugly last night, So I mean he can't can't get that. I can't get that much

more ugly, exactly, exactly exactly. Um, So let's let's move on to this trade deadline thing. So, uh, to be clear, I'm gonna like very quickly lay out my case for for why I thought the Lakers should have traded for Kyle Lowry. So we have pretty good intel at this point that, uh that had they included talent Horton Tucker in the trade, they would have gotten Kyle Lowry. The framework of the trade was there. It was Contagious Callbo Pope, Dennis Shooter Town Horton Tucker for a straight up swap

for Kyle Lowry. So here here's this is my philosophy on that. First of all, we've talked about talent Horton Tucker in his long term potential with the Lakers at length. Uh, we think that we see him as like somewhere between an Aaron Gordon and maybe a little bit better defensive, uh two way player version of Aaron Gordon. But that's gonna be somewhere around like five years down the line.

And we have concerns about whether or not, you know, lebronze age will eventually become a factor to where uh, you'll never be able to capitalize in all of those things. At the same time, however, you know, the trick is the counter. The one thing that I did understand as a negative of that trade, and I would imagine you'll bring this up, is that the Lakers have guard depth. It's something that has always been something that uh, they've leaned on. This year, Wesley Matthews goes down with an

ankle injury, They've got depth. Contavious called a poke goes down they've got depth. Same thing even when Dennis Shorter, mind you, they needed they were lacking offensive creation, but they had four guards that they could fall back on. One shot went out for a week. So if you trade three of them for one, now, all of a sudden, your five guard core becomes a three guard core, and

there's a depth problem. However, you know, especially given the fact that the Lakers asked their guards to play really limited roles, you allways had the fallback of the buyout market. So I always thought that, you know, a guy like Avery Bradley would be available. You know, maybe you could get a Wayne Ellington or something along those lines who could slide into that role on the cheap and give you back, get you back to a four guard role.

And without a doubt, in my opinion, Kyle Lowry is a better player than Dennis Shooter by some discernible amount, especially in a playoff series. And so I just saw that as an opportunity to kind of push your chips in the middle and forego. You know, if Tyler Harrow to me did not make sense because Tyler Harrow, like right now, is already a contributor. He's not as good as heat fans think he is, but he's a contributor and he had success in late round playoff series last year.

He made a lot of big shots against the Lakers, and he uh had the game against the Celtics where he just went absolutely berserk and that arguably swung that series. And so so my point was is like, at least with Miami, they're looking at this like like Tyler Harrow plays for us right now and right now is impactful

in in our championship pursuit. Telling Horton Tucker is a is a fringe rotation guy, like he's in the rotation now, but there's a question as to whether or not he will be in the rotation when the playoffs come, and there are nights where he looks like I'm not sure if he's ready for this. So there, so I see that. I I viewed it as a as the Lakers passing on an opportunity to increase their chances right now at the expense of of of some future piece that may

or may not materialize into something. And I just saw it as a potential missed opportunity. And I'm worried that there will be a late round playoff series, whether whether it's against the Clippers or the nets where you're gonna be looking at it like man like Kyle Lowry might have been enough to get this done and and that's that that would be my concern. Yeah, to be clear, like, I don't hate Kyle Lowry. I think he's an awesome,

you know, basketball player. I think he's really good, even at his age at thirty five, is a super effective point guard, um all defense type point guard, hits threes, can attack the basketball. That I just I don't like the framing of it as the Lakers picked th HT over Kyle Lowry, because I just don't think that's the case. Th HD to me is the like straw that broke the camel's back kind of thing. He's not the he's not the actual weight that was put onto this trade, right,

But it's being frame that way. I mean credit to whoever is framing it out there, because that is what the framing has become. It's because oh my god, Lakers picked t HD over Kyle Lowry. They must really believe, well, they do believe in them. Lebron belives in them, Clutch believes in them. But that wasn't the point of this point is that the Lakers would have had to give up.

Because Kyle Lowry makes thirty million dollars a year. Lakers don't have some trade exceptions, so they have to match up to like some eighty or eighty percent of the salary. They had to give up Dennis Shrewder who the Lakers. I know the Lakers have their calms with Danny Green, but they give up a starter, a finals level starter, a first round pick for Dennis Shrewder who they're looking

to keep. Right this year, it was twenty seven young point guard who's played really well next to the two superstars k C. P Again, I know he's struggling right now, but this is I'm gonna use your Tyler hero theory right Like, he was really good in the playoffs. He hit big shots. He was also a starter. So you get to final start two starters who started on a championship team plus and then you you throw in the

Lakers pretty much most prized. I don't like to call players assets and possessions or whatever, but the Lakers the most biggest trade piece right as Taylor Nord Tucker. There's no qualms about that. That that's pretty clear. The Lakers don't have many first round picks going forward. Th HD has shown enough potential to even being thrown into Tyler hero type talks shows a lot to me, right, I mean,

he's play he hasn't even played. He doesn't even played forty games in a season yet, you know, and his entire career, I don't think so um to show him to be able to be in that is is a big deal. And like, you throw Kyle Lowry on this team right now, and you throw away you take those three guards away, It's it's gonna be a really big struggle. I mean. And and also you don't know when Lebron is coming back. You don't know if eighties coming back, knock on, would they come back this year? But let's

say they don't come back healthy. Now, you gave you know, all that up for Kyle Lowry to content with Marcusol and you know, maybe an unhealthy team around. It's just I just don't think he bridges the gap between them and like Brooklyn, because that's what who we're talking about here, right, I mean, I don't think anyway anyone else in the West really scares it with Clippers maybe, But and then also those moves by Brooklyn. I mean, Blake Griffin, marcusology

are great. They're gonna be great for them. I just don't think they pushed the margin of air enough or you had to throw all these chips for Kyle Lowry, who again, he's a great player, but he's thirty five, right, he's gonna turn thirty six going forward. Do you want to pay him because he wants an extension? Did you want to pay him another two years fifty million? Which was gonna you were gonna have to do to keep him. So I think all those factors into it. Um, I'm

glad they stayed. They stayed. Still, I feel like they asking asking price was a little high. Maybe if it was just Shrewder and KCP, then maybe, you know, we can talk about it. But you know, I think that's a that was a really tough thing for the Lakers to throw in. And again, if they made the trade, I wouldn't have him at Kyle is an amazing player. He pushes your ceiling up. I disagree how much higher he pushes the ceiling up, but he does sush the

ceiling up a little bit. But in this season, with no teams practicing, all this chaos of you know Covid and you know Lebron and a d are out and all this stuff. It's just hard to throw another ranch. And I think this team deserves to show because in the off season, if you remember, we talked about how talented this roster was, right, and I just feel like they should get a chance to kind of show that.

And I would have been sad if if they you know, mortgage all that not mortgage, but if they just, you know, decided to throw away that that chance of potential that that we saw in the off season for for a mid season for Kyle Lowry. So that's that's my case on it. So again, I I understand where you're coming from in the sense that if you frame it as two final starters of first round draft pick and talent Horton Truck Tucker for UH for Kyle Lowry, it seems

like an overpay. I get that. However, the way that I would I would UH qualify all of that is that a lot of time times, you know, like guys who would be considered starters that UH in other situations would be less valuable. So for instance, Danny Green and Contavious Caldwell Pope succeed because they play next to Lebron and a D. In large part, k CP was, you know, a non impactful player for the Lakers before Lebron and

a D came aboard. Danny Green was kind of floundering a bit in San Antonio before he ended up in Toronto in that awesome role in in the Lakers, in that awesome role. And I'm not trying to undercut what they do. I'm just saying like it's not as clear cut as like, you know, as a more more like significant starting role piece. Um kind of like the way Dennis Shutter is now where like he's a legitimate you know, uh, the starting point guard in the NBA type of talent.

Now as far as the uh, the trade goes, you know, when when we're quantifying Kyle Lowry's value, I think it's it's more complicated than just Kyle Lowry is a little bit better than Dennis Shooter. So but what that that small gap that exists between Lebron and Dennis Shooter is

more magnified when you get into the playoffs. And the way that I quantify that is like, you know, uh, Dennis shrewder um uh type of player has kind of middled around on various teams that have made it to the first round of the playoffs and things along those lines.

Kyle Lowry was you know, the best player on a Toronto Raptors team that had a couple of deep playoff runs and has made a lot of of really really big playoffs shots and uh, you know, for example, like when you think about Kyle Lowry, you think about, you know, the shop that he hit over. Gosh, who was it that he made it over? I think it was Kemba Walker to to extend the series against the Celtics to

Game seven last year. You think about, you know, the NBA Finals Game six, him coming down and just going like crazy in the first quarter and making a bunch of shots to to get that a series off to such a great start, or that game off to such a great start. That's the kind of thing that happens when you're that level of talent, even even though it's

just it's like tears. If you're setting up tears, you know, you're putting your superstars in one tier, and then you're putting your stars in the next tier, and then there's like this third tier of like fringe stars, and then there's like the Dennis Shrewder types, which are like in that fourth tier, which is like above average starting NBA players, you know what I mean, Like a guy who on any given night might go for but he's more of just like a he's really good at specific things, but

he has these like clear flaws like Kyle Lowry is in that next tier. And to me, those tears don't mean as much in a regular season they seem weird when you're talking about contract values and how much you might pay somebody, but they make a significant difference in a playoff series that that kind of thing is the margin that might make up the difference between you, you know, like I said, beating a team that you might be

overmatched against, like a Brooklyn Nets type of team. And so my thing is like, it'll just be it'll be sad in my opinion, if they get to Brooklyn and they end up losing because there's a talent app and then th HD develops into a borderline star, but then Lebron ages out and you know, maybe a DS health problems and then you're sitting there in the future and you're like, Okay, we got th HT, but you know

this didn't work out like you're betting. Like, to me, the bigger gamble is gambling on a young player's success rather than gambling in the moment on the potential, the potential to win a title. And I mean we're like, uh, there's there's a lot of optimism surrounding the Laker fan base, this idea that you know, they have enough to win two, three more with a D and I'm one of those guys.

I'm optimistic that they can. But that is not guaranteed, and just as easily it could end up being, you know, a failure looking back and going like, man, the only one one And that could be health related. That could be, but it could also be based on stuff like this, like not making the aggressive moves that you need to in order to put them there. But I I for the record, I see where you're coming from, and there's there's also no guarantee that you could get a buyout guy.

And I would have been concerned if they only had three guards. So I see, I see where you're coming from. Yeah, and it looks like I mean, if you look at the bio market, I mean, guards are just not you know, you don't just get guards, and the bio market the bio markets more a lot of centers and bigs, you know that that get bought out, and I'm that very much guards and that's just really tough to go into the playoffs with that low of a guard rotation and

a shrewder. He's not as good as Kyle Awry. I mean, that's pretty clear. I feel like he's a He's an above average starter. Kyle Lowry is probably an all all star level kind of point guard, especially in the playoffs. But you know, Kyle Alredy had his playoffs struggles as well. I mean, I'm not trying to attack on Kyle Lollery, but like you know, there's a long time where he was seen as a guy that doesn't play well in the playoffs, and then obviously he broke through that barrier.

Um after a couple of years he ran into a lebron A lot to be honest with just kind d of ironic there, But yeah, I see where you're coming from. I think I think the trade would have been fine. I think they would have won, and still I just don't think their margin would have increased as much. Um with Kyle Lowry. Um. He's also a different type of player, is a guy who picks up for Cord. He's a kind of more speed used attack, isolation ball handleyer type

of point guard. Um, Kyle Lowry is more still, I believe, more of an off ball guard. I don't know if you would agree with that. Um, he's okay, he's a decent ploytmaker and he's a Kyler. Is a really good shooter. Yeah, that's the part that he's a lot better. He's a lot better shooter. Um, but I mean people come here and can't shoot, so I'd be worried. I'd be worried about that. But but yeah, no, he would have been great. It's just again, the age kind of mean Lebron's a cyborg.

I mean people are like, oh but Lebron's thirty five. Well, I mean using Lebron for you know, comparison metrics just don't really match. That Guy's a guy's like a one in a million kind of universe type of developer at that age. You know, most cards at that age start to fall. Chris Paul is not the same. And Chris Paul is still amazing, but he's not what he was that now He's at like dirty five, three six, and I'd worry about that with Lowry as well. But I

think you've been fine. They got him, but I was really against it, and I'm glad that they that they stayed. They still stay still. Yeah, And like like we said at the very beginning, there's no point in dwelling on it for too long. I mean, the reality is is that the Lakers decided not to make the move, So now they're committed to Dinner Shooter. Shooter is probably gonna be here for the next four years after this one.

Th HD is probably gonna sign uh his second deal this summer, and he's probably gonna be around for a long time. So this is what it is. And so that means that you can, um uh, you can do a better job of projecting this team forward because we

know what they are. And the nice thing is is they're gonna have a bunch of these tradeable contracts now in the future because th HD is probably gonna sign, you know, somewhere in that ten to fifteen million dollar range, Alex Crusoe is probably gonna sign somewhere in the seven to ten million dollar range. You know, Dinner Shooter is probably gonna sign in the twenty to twenty two million

dollar range. So the Lakers in a way that they haven't in the past, are gonna have a bunch more of these like tradeable type of salaries that are at these middle um you know, middle ground areas, and that's going to give the Lakers more flexibility in the future to be able to make trades that they weren't able to make, uh this year. So you're not always tied down.

It just but but you're right. And and Dennis Shooter he's different than Kyle Lowry, but he brings a lot to the table that that that really helps his team. And I still like their chances. I just you know, part of this comes from the Brooklyn nets looks so good man, Like they look so good. And you know, I was so taken aback by the LaMarcus Aldridge signing because I thought he was the best of these big men, that the best of these buyout guys that were available.

Because when you looked at all of the guys and what they brought to the table, you know, you know, Blake Griffin I thought was bad on both ends. Like I think he's a weak defensive player and a below average offensive player. You know, LaMarcus Aldridge, I think, uh, or excuse me, uh, you know, Andre Drummond, he had his effort issues and and and there's some concern as to whether or not, you know, he's one of the worst finishers around the room and league and all this

other stuff. And LaMarcus Aldridge fell out of the rotation in San Antonio because he couldn't defend. He was a bad defensive player. But LaMarcus all and also because they're kind of going in on some youth, you know, but LaMarcus Aldridge is still like one of the best pick and pop bigs in the league. And he literally terrifies defenses when he pops and he's open, and he can win your basketball games. And so I saw him as

as a as a huge pickup. And so when Brooklyn got LaMarcus Aldridge, and they're already whooping everybody's ass without KD. Like literally, the the games that are close involved Kyrie out and just hardened. And even then they're winning most of those. I think they've won all of them but one or two. So the Brooklyn Nets are out here whooping everybody's ass. And you know, it's one thing to be like, oh, well, we're bigger, we're more physical, we're

we're gonna beat him. And don't get me wrong, like I think the Lakers have a chance to beat them, I really do. But you need every advantage and that's and that's why I kind of was was pro that move. But we've talked about it enough and and I think

we respect each other's opinions. We just disagree, which is fine. Um, So I want to talk about where the Lakers are at right now, so we you know, the Shame's reported after the trade deadline that a D is about two weeks out, so that would put him about a week from this Thursday, and that Lebron was at that point three to five weeks out. So best case scenario, Lebron in three weeks, Lebron in a D and two weeks. Uh. My guess is that if Lebron is feeling better, they

may try to bring them both back together. We'll see what ends up happening. Um yeah, you got a lot of black for that. You got a lot of black for that. I remember you said I would bring both of them together. I just and my my whole thought proces behind that was really simple. I just wanted them to have it easy. I didn't like to me coming

back from an injury. You you have, like the the reason why people get hurt, you know, for the most part, is they know their body has a limitation, whether it's you know, me putting on weight because I didn't play for two weeks and then I came back, and then you know, you're in a game, and all of a sudden, you're like, I want to win this game, so you push yourself a little bit further than you probably would have if there weren't steaks, and then you end up

getting yourself hurt. And that's why I worry about with Lebron and a d S. They come back anyway, you uh, you find yourself in a situation where your competitive nature kicks in and you end up and you end up pushing yourself too hard and you get hurt. That was the only the only reason behind that. But anyway, they're gonna absolute bare minimum two more weeks without these guys. A couple of things that I think are interesting. One, they're still they're fifth in the league in defense since

Lebron went out. Can you believe that? Uh? Now, a little bit of context there. They have played two really bad teams as of late. Um, but the flip side of that is who is that they played that they almost beat the other day, the one Philly, Like they played really good defense against Philly, especially in the second half. Um. So my, the the defense is still there, which is what we expected. Uh. They're absolute dead last in offense since Lebron went out, averaging just over one points per

one possessions. Uh. But there is there is a distinct thing that they still bring to the table, which is the compete on the defensive end of the floor. Um. But there's a couple of games that they could potentially steal here on the Rise and as well, there's that game against the Raptors and then there's a game against the Kings. But it's like with them, with their inability to score, I think it could get really ugly. But what has been your big takeaway from watching them in

the last week without Lebron and Nydi? Yeah, So, like I said before, like I'm trying to look for things that we can take into the playoffs, right because right now, looking at the scoreboard, to me doesn't really matter except for these last two games that you needed to win against the Kelvs and the Magic. However, ugly and however close it was, you need to get those. But going forward, there's gonna be a lot of his bucks. I think Clippers, um heat all coming up, and those are just I mean,

they're not gonna be favorite even close to any of these. So, uh, the things I want to look at is like, the defense is still there. They're still defending like hell, the guards are really going after it. I thought, like Alex Ruzo, he got a lot of black last night, but I thought he domin They did that second quarter like his defense was insane. He got a deflection on almost every play. He was driving, kicking and all that. So the defense

is still there. Um. But the main thing I want to look at the Shrewder Harold kind of to Matt game, because I think that's the thing that we can take into the playoffs. Right, that's the main part. All this other stuff is gonna be moving all those other to All those other players pretty much play specifically off Lebron and a d right, even the shooters KCP, all those dudes are gonna be playing off them. Shrewder and Harold, the two guys that in a playoff series have to

be able to create offense together. They just they just are I know Lebron and d are gonna be playing most of the game, but just to have those two start to build chemistry. We talked about it earlier that UM, since Shrewder was starting and Harold was coming off the bench, their minutes weren't really colliding right because they were a Shooter was playing more with just Lebron on the floor, and we we got into that. But now those two are closing games. Last night they went to their treys

sugar pick and roll like four straight possessions. Um. They have Shooter coming off like Iverson's cuts to to Harold, uh Carold coming and screening and getting him on the role. And that's the thing that I can see building every game, like their chemistry with it. They're strying to understand where each other wants the ball, where to find him. And I think that's my main takeaway from this whole stretches.

I want those two to build as much chemistry as they can together, and I think you're starting to see it. They're trying to go to it. Shrewder looked as comfortable as I've seen him last night, like he understood he was the lead guy that he was going to be able to just get any shot he wants. He did enforced anything early. He started to take shots late and got to the line. And you know, if you want to command twenty two million dollars a year, this is

where you make your money from. You need to show that you can win these type of games. And he showed it last night that he was able to get comfortable. But what are you seeing from from the from this stretch. That's a good point. The uh, the the spamming of actions that you could run when Lebron and a d come back, that's a because that kind of thing just takes time. Like I, I just you know, I'll give you an example, like one of my duds in my wedding.

One of my good friends we played high school basketball together. He ended up playing at the University of Arizona's name is Matt and uh. Him and I, you know, after college, we started playing in these men's leagues together and you just we at first when we started playing together, we just had no chemistry. We couldn't figure anything out. I was I was a primary ball handler. He was like

a screen and roll guy, screening pop guy. Over the course of years, him and I built a certain amount of chemistry, and now it's like one of our most sure fire plays that we can run. It's just getting him an eye together and screening. That is the fact that in any sort of unorganized basketball environment, they can't guard screen and roll because you have to get to practice,

you have to practice guarding screen and roll. But the point is is like you give Kuzma and and Trees a bunch of reps, you give Shrewder and Tries a bunch of reps, you get Hey, get Drummond in there, have Drummond run a ton of reps with Dennis Shrewder. Getting them to run uh tons and tons of reps together even in losses, is it just builds that chemistry to where, you know, in minutes where you know, Lebron's running the bench lineups, but he's kind of resting on

the floor because he just ran three straight actions. And so now Shrewder's gonna run a pick and roll with Tres makes at a higher percentage play. You know, we saw that with Treads and Lou Williams over the years that they played together, they built that chemistry to make that a really dominant play. And so I I'm with you, there's a lot to gain in the sense that they

can practice uh specific actions. I just hope my number one thing is do all that all you want, Just don't lose your identity, continue to defend and compete on

on the defensive end of the ball. And for the record they have, which is which is to me really impressive because they don't have, you know, so much of what they do defensively is unlocked by having these two ridiculously versatile forwards in Lebron and Anthony Davis that can switch everything, that can shut down specific actions and can guard the back line, and and they're out right now and they're still defending at extremely high level, which I

think is really impressive. Um as far ahead, I was gonna ask you about this because like I know, everyone's saying we're waiting for Lebron and e D to come back and all that, but like just watching these games, like watching them break open three, the open three, that has nothing to do with lemarn and Anthony Davis, right, Like that's just a mental Like KCP is shooting twenty five on his open three since Lebron and a D went out, Like what that has nothing to do with

Lebron and a D. That's him missing wide open shots. I'm just wondering what you're taking on that, because I think he's just in a mental kind of hurdle right now. I thought the All Star break would fix it, really hasn't. He looks healthy now though, Like he doesn't look like he's tired. He looks like he's running. He looks he's still like disengaged on defense on a lot of possessions. But I think that will come. It's just do you think that fixes when Lebron and Dy goes back? Like

what do you what do you see from there? Because I'm I'm starting to get a little worried, Like his benefit of the doubt is big, right, you know, when you play that well in the playoff series, your rope is long from there. But it's starting to like really cut, like I could see like the first stations are really starting to build. So do where do you see from there? Because I don't know how that's a Lebron and a d problem. Like I guess Lebron gets you the ball

in a little better situation. You're you know, he gets in the pocket past a little more. But I'm watching these games and the passes he's getting are perfectly fine. He's in rhythm, he's shooting it in rhythm. Is just not going in. So it's just like a slumpy think you'll get out of it, because you know, shooters usually hit their open looks. I don't expect KCP to like run ball stream actions and hit pull up mid rangers, but you know, hit your open threes. That's That's what

I'm wondering. So I agree that that they're in a phone click, don't get me wrong. And this kind of thing is this kind of thing is contagious. It just is. However, as I tweeted out this morning, the Lakers are shooting about thirty eight percent when both Lebron and e d are on the floor from three seven percent with just Lebron, uh, and then without both of them, they're shooting about thirty

and a half, so just below from three. Uh. Now, you're right, like you can kind of disseminate that down into like open looks and and different like off the dribble shots and defended like heavily contested shots and so on and so forth. And don't get me wrong, those numbers are concerning. But as you and I have discussed before,

like No. Two open shots are the same either. You know, when when you're in a game where you're not getting as many high quality looks to build your rhythm and then all of a sudden you end up open, that open shot is different than I'm playing with Lebron and a D. I'm consistently getting open looks to build my rhythm. Lebron and a D are feeding my confidence. Our team

is winning and we're playing well. All of that plays into the way that shooting works like and you know, there there are so many you know, analytics guys that get involved with shooting and they and they run numbers and they go like, oh, there's no such thing as the hot hand there, there's no such thing as as this or that or this or that. It's just simple defender this far away. You can break it down in

two percentage. I disagree. If you've ever played basketball, you can feel the momentum shift of shooting like a pickup games are a great example of it because they're small sample sizes like I play. When I play with my group of guys that I play within the mornings, we played in nine twos and threes, so the games end super fast, and we do that on purpose because it breeds really high quality basketball because if you trick off one or two possessions, it will cost you the game.

And you can feel that flow where where you're missing your open shots and other guys are making more contested shots on the other team because of that momentum shift. It's a team wide confidence. It is a team wide uh. It's it's a team wide um uh like like like momentum as and when it comes to making when it comes to making shots, and you can feel that with the Lakers when Lebron's on the floor, then they're generating

higher quality shots. They just tend to go in. And then you can feel it when they're off the floor. It just it's almost like this like a cloud hanging over the team where you can sense you can sense it from the fan base too. They're like, oh, we can't shoot, we can't shoot. And you almost see k C. P Thinking like I can't shoot, I can't shoot, like and it's like and it's like, no, dude, you're fine. You're just you're not getting as many open shots. And now you're in your own head and the team is

not very good right now. So like even with as good as they played defensively there two and three without Lebron and a d so uh in this recent stretch. So there's just my thing is like I of all of the things that I worry about with the Lakers,

they're shooting is pretty far down on that list. I just we've seen so many times over the last two years then go cold for stretches, and it's usually related to something funky and and the and the reality is as they end up being just fine when the playoffs come. Lebron and Nadie are super locked in. Like another big thing is one of the most popular forms of three point shooting is the offensive rebound kickback because the defense

is always out of position. Uh, they're all, you know, they're maybe they're running the floor and transition or something. They're out of position. But yeah, that's true. He's gonna help a lot with that. And but it's like, you know, we we played like you know, when the ball moves and it hits like three different people than it hits that last shooter, that ball is likely to go in. Right, we have these clisses to say, like the ball finds energy.

That's how surprise last night the Lakers had a few players where like they drive kick drive kick move move and then like it gets to that corner shooter wide open beautiful ball movement and it just clanks. I'm like, oh, that is really shocking. That really shows that like there's some kind of mental herter they're going on here. I think they'll be fine. It's just interesting when you look at the numbers. Man th HD is shooting like fourteen on wide open threes in this in this stretch, like

he's really fallen off. He's hitting that like that rookie shooting wall. I guess he's still playing okay, still getting to the rim. But yeah, I think I think they're shooting will be fine. It's just right now. They're obviously in the slump, but their margin for error is so low, you know what I mean, Like it's so small that when your best shooter is not hitting open threes, it just puts pressure on everyone else to score. I saw a number from I Think I pick up Hoop tweeted it.

They have like a ninety one point one offensive rating without tread's on the floor during this stretch, and with treads it's like one oh one or something, one oh two, just which is just ridiculous. It's not great either way. That's that's the worst offense in the league on both possessions, on both times. But that shows just how much of a struggle it is to generate offense. So and that's the thing, like like Montrez Harrold is a matchup nightmare for other teams and puts pressure on the rim and

all that stuff. Like I'm just basketball. It's such as such a natural flow. Like it's like it's like when we talk about free throw shooting, it's the the physically aggressive, the physically aggressive team is the one that actually shoots more free throws, which is counterintuitive because you think the team that's being more physically aggressive is committing more. There is a there is a natural like waterfall effect in basketball.

When you are physically aggressive, you put more pressure on the rim, you generate higher quality shots, your guys start making shots, you start drawing fouls and getting the free throw line. It's just this like waterfall effect. And and I believe in the Lakers formula they were built in a very specific way. They didn't want a Reggie Jackson. They didn't they didn't want you know, Wayne Ellington or

any of these guys that were offensive oriented players. They wanted guards and wings that fit very specific roles next to Lebron and Anton Davis. And so I'm not gonna hyper analyze or or or or you know, overthink what this basketball looks like right now. Uh. It just it just was never the point. And you know, uh, you know, Frank Vogel catches a lot of slander these days for

the offense. And I want to be like, you know, if they if the Lakers had signed Mike D'Antoni to be the head coach last year, I don't think there is good I really don't, because you know, the whole point of the Lebron experiences he can be your offensive head coach. And yeah, his style is a little bit unorthodox.

So is the Steph Curry style. Like you don't you don't want to have Like there's there's not a roster in the league where you want another guy to be handling the ball and have your superstar just flying off the screens all day. That's that that that that works for the Warriors because the steps specific skill set and that's the way that the Lakers are built. They were like, we have this unbelievable role guy picking Popeye guy, picking roll guy, post up player, and we've got one of

the smartest player is to ever play the game. So let's get a defensive minded head coach and a bunch of defensive minded role players and let's play into an identity. And that's what the Lakers have done. And you know, I, ironically I think that their defense might allow them to steal some of these games, because if they compete defensively, they might beat Sacramento. If they compete defensively, they might

beat Toronto. Because the game is going to be a rock fight, and it is just about making a few shots here and there. And you've got enough with Montrez Harrold and Dennis Shrewder to take advantage of some specific matchups and get some shots made at the end. And you know, when you look at these other teams and the standings, like you know, the Clippers are resting players every once in a while, like the Mavericks are resting

Luca every once in a while. The Spurs are heading into a ridiculous tough stretch of their schedule, winning four games like beaten uh, beating these last two two teams and then taking down Toronto and take down um uh, Sacramento, that might literally be enough to float you. If you go four and eleven, you know, that might be enough to keep you at the sixth seed, and then all of a sudden, Lebron and a d come back and

you're going to run to end the season. So I think it's immensely important that that you just try to get these these handful of games because you just need to that the difference between going four and eleven and going two and thirteen is a huge difference in the way that the standings will eventually shake out. So I think I think they have something that they can, uh you know, kind of make work for a couple of

weeks there. And they've been in all these games. I mean, I feel like they should have won the Philly one. Danny Green just turned into Ray Allen like he was he eight threes and like the last three were contested, just tough shots. So and then the Phoenix one too was close until the end. Devin Booker and Chris Paul took over at the end. So that's basically how they'll lose these games. But I think they'll fight in them. Their defense will hold them steady, and they don't have

the star power to hold up. But if you make these teams have to, you know, play their stars and win it. That way, you have a chance. And that's all you asked. Where for eleven would be. I mean that's not great, but I mean that would probably keep you above water for now. There was I think they're like five games ahead right now of Dallas um in the standing, So I mean that's a lot of ground to try and make up. I mean, it just is, even with Lebron a D out, it seems not gonna

lose like seven eight in a row. I don't think, like, I just don't. I know people are thinking, oh, they might lose eleven in a row. I just never saw that. That's just now we know that's not how basketball works. Really, Like teams are gonna skip skip get out wins and um, yeah, that that's kind of how I say. They'll they'll be fine.

They'll stay above water. And if a D and Lebron can come back in two weeks, or Lebron can come back in three and a D come back in the next two weeks, a D at least push that talent level up right, and like he'll he'll match that talent level up if he can get on this team and they can start creating an Andre Drummond starts playing well, I think they'll get get a couple more wins. But

this is a super tough stretch. They play Milwaukee next, I mean, that's probably gonna be a loss, and then from there just how to steal wins, like you said on Sacramento in Toronto. But that's that's basically your chance because after that, well, it's a game road trip. I think, yeah, that a game road trip is vicious. The interesting thing to do in terms of bringing a D back would be to, uh, you know, because I don't see Lebron doing a minutes limit. That just doesn't seem like it's

programmed into him. Like when Lebron comes back, he's going to play thirty two minutes at least. So so what'll be interesting is a D. I do think they'll bring back on a minutes limit. So what would be interesting is to bring a D back a week early and have him play like fifteen minutes in the first game, twenty in the second game, twenty five in the third game, so on and so forth, and build him up. Um uh, that would be an interesting way to bring him back.

But yeah, I know, I agree with you. You You made a good point, Like it's like the uh, this is a this is a really good team. Um, they have really good habits. They're not going to go on an eleven game losing streak. They just have to stick to

their identity and try to squeeze him out. I do think that this this stretch here is an interesting case study for one of my long standing theories, which is like you can coach and scheme defense, but you can't coach and scheme elite offense in late round playoff series. And the example I'd use is like, if you look at the Laker roster right now, it's not a super talented defensive roster. Like marcusol is old and not very mobile anymore. Montrase, Harrold is kind of like a notoriously

bad defensive player in his career. You know, Mark Keith Morris is okay. Kyle Kuzma has shown flashes, but he's not a guy that you'd call around the league and think is an all defense guy. Alex Crusoe's and all defense level talent, denishooters and all defense level talent. But like k c P has been okay on that end this year, Wesley Matthews has been okay on that end. This year. They have defended on almost almost solely on

the strength of their effort and Frank Vogel scheming. And I think that's really really impressive, And it goes to show you that, you know, when you're bringing in a guy like Andre Drummond, like you're really just working on fitting him into the scheme and getting him to play hard. It's not even that like like from there his physical

talents will just take over. But I just think it's an interesting case study in in in how we value players and the reason why, like I would value a guy like Lebron so much, a guy like Steph so much, a step in particular, even though he has defensive limitations, because you can scheme at defense, you can get guys

to play hard and have that impact defense. But you can't tell this this Laker team tries really really hard and they can't score, so like that that's not something that can be fixed with effort and focus, if that makes sense. Yeah, And and to your point, I mean, I love Damien Jones. I thought he was great. I thought he filled his role awesome. He was on ten days for a reason, right, there's a reason he's still not in the league right now. Um, that's because he's

just not at that talent level. And they just fit him into the starting lineup. Gasol was out and they were fine on defense, they defended well. And then the talent gap though between him and Dubman is just so large that just gigantic time talent gaps. So when you feel a guy like that in plus the scheme, like you said, because the scheme is obviously what's winning them games right now, it's them and shrewder Crusoe, Casey Pee

flying around these screens. That's how case you'd be picking up full core the Lakers who had the game in hand, and he had a dumbfoul at the end. Um, But I mean just that intensity right to play hard. Um, he's not shooting the ball well, but I thought he defended pretty well last night. And that's how they're winning these games. They're fun on these guys to the rim. Tras is doing a nice job in his coverages. He's been switching. Marcosol is a lot better than I think

people think he is on defense as well. Um, during this during this stretch, and that's how they're defending, and uh that's how they have to win by defense because they are not going to score enough. Ronin who do you think it squeezed out of the rotation? What do you mean for like when Drummond comes back, there's you got Drummond, Marcosol, Anthony Davis, Leron, James Marquis for Morris all in the front court. Yeah, I get squeezed out. I think Marcusol probably gets for now the least in

on the minutes because he's older. I don't think he minds as much. Um. I think the playoffs is gonna be super magic dependent, just like it was last year. Um, it's gonna be a lot of e D at the five. I think Marky Morris is gonna again play spot minutes where he's he can be effective. Same with Tread's. Same with Tread's probably gonna have a bigger role, but same with Drummond. All those guys are probably gonna be a match up depending. Just like last year, people worried about

the Dwight situation. He didn't play for two rounds, Like just just that's what happened that he got mentioned. I believe in the Portland series. Also in in the Houston series as well, So that's how it will be, and then everyone understands that it's Lebron and a d are gonna get their minutes. Everyone else gets their spot minutes around that, and that's no different for the center rotation

in my opinion. So it'll be interesting to see because like Houston, with the way that they schemed the Lakers, they had to bench Dwight Angeville right in the in.

The team that could do that this year potentially would be Brooklyn, which would suck because you know, Drummond is such a weapon against Brooklyn as a physical price and speak because like a guy like Claxton might be able to compete more defensively on switches and guarding little guards and doing all these little things because he's got all this length. But if you've got a big body like Drummond that can bury him under the rim, you know

that that's that's a weapon. So it's like, but you know, Frank Vogel has shown a tendency against these teams that do heavy switching to just go away from their centers altogether. But that's why I like having all those different matchups is Mark Keith Morris is a perfect guy to throw out for something like that, because then they go they do they switch something. Mark Keith can just run out to the corner and now you've got spacing for Lebron to attack the switch or for Anthony Davis to attack

the switch. So it'll be interesting to see because you know, my guess is my guests on the rotation stuff, is that Drummond and Gasol, similar to Javail and Dwight, are going to play for the center minutes they're going. It's going to be based on who's playing better. If Marc Gasol has it going and Drummonds in his head and he's not playing his role, well, I think you're gonna see a lot of Gasol. But if Kasol looks washed and Drummond is being physically dominant, I think you're gonna

see more Drummond. And then yeah, against specific matchups they go small and play a lot of Leron and a D and you know, maybe Kuzma at the foursome. It's a depth that they have. It's a depth problem, and they have a lot of depth, and it's not necessarily a problem. It's just someone's gonna get squeezed. And now one of the things that I think is super interesting

about the Lakers. And it's so funny because you look back to like the way the Lakers were portrayed, you know, going into last season, it's this like dumpster fire unorganized basketball organization. Two now it's like they're so well run and and you look at uh, you look at Frank Vogel and he's like, yeah, Like, I just have really upfront conversations with all my players about how much they're gonna play. Like Frank Vogel will walk into locker room

and be like, we're playing Sacramento tomorrow. They don't play a center, so you know, uh, Andre and Mark, you guys aren't playing tonight, and they'll just and and I I admire that because that's so much better than the alternative of like going into a game, doing a heavy warm up, getting all emotionally psyched for minutes, and then not playing and then now you're frustrated at the coach

and it's brewing underneath the surface. Like the Lakers are handling this like pros and and I think that that's cool. And it's better to have more guys than you need than than to have the opposite effect, like a team like Boston who it doesn't know who to go to when they go to their bench. Yeah, and again that's you get that kind of cachet when you win a championship, right Like, that's that's what you get. And when you have Lebron on your team, who's gonna lead it. I mean,

that's you can do things like that. Um, other places that might blow up, But we saw locker room issues with a lot of teams last year. Um, the Clippers, the Celtics still have some weird stuff going on in their locker rooms. So you can just kind of tell that when you have that kind of uh, those kind of players on your team, then then you can do that.

But again, like right now, like I feel like this is gonna be a weird stretch, like we talked about because leron a Dye aren't playing right, So it's so it is a little different. Like guys are expecting shots, guys are expecting minutes. Um, who's much with fifteen threes last night? I mean, that's just just a ridiculous amount of shots for him. But he must be happy, he's comfortable he's gonna get those looks because there's no one else to take them. Right now, so that's kind of

where we're at right now. There's just like middle ground of I feel like I'm watching the two thousand eighteen Lakers, where like we're developing all these dudes, except we're getting lebron a d back, right that's time. You were just developing for the next season. So you're developing brandon ingram Alonzo, Ball, Josh Hard, all these young guys with a bunch of talent who aren't gonna win a lot of games right now, but you know that in the future if you add

a star, they'll play. Well, well, we have the stars. Now you're in that development mental mode again. So that's why I'm watching this this team right now, and I feel like that's how people should be watching this. The scoreboard is kind of not as relevant right now. You want to get wins as you can, but they're building towards stuff. And Vogel understands that people are mad at Vogol because he's not playing this guy or he's not running this offense. I mean, it's just not the point

of these games right now. They it's just not They're trying to develop good habits and good process where the future, and I think that's the right approach and having Lebron and a D as the only things you have to plug in and ramp up are important because Ron Lebron is gonna have ramp up. Lebron is gonna have a phase where he's turned the ball over a lot, he's a little sloppy with his dribbles, his jumper is a little unpolished because he's coming back into the swing of things.

Anthony Davis is gonna have like a physical ramp up that he has to get into. So from from from that standpoint, like you know, uh, having the guards already dialed into their defensive roles, having Shrewder and Tres already in a rhythm with what they can do with their

actions that they run together. Having all of that set up and like humming out a hundred miles an hour and then just plugging in the Lebron and a D pieces is so much better than like, you know, if Lebron and a d were injured in the off season and they came back, you know, right at the start of the season or training camp and everybody's ramping up together, that I'd be a little bit more concerned about them, you know, looking good going into the playoffs, whereas now

because they can just kind of handle Lebron and a dps separately, then I feel a little bit more confident. The thing that will get tricky is, you know, everybody uses the example of the bubble and how good they looked, uh in the bubble after taking a bunch of time off. But I have to remind people that they were playing a lot of basketball in the in that time off.

And you know, Lebron and I D have actually been literally sitting in a hyperbaric chamber and icing and stretching, and and A D is just now starting to do like really minuscule court work. So there for them, I think the ramp up is important, and and give it putting them in a position where the rest of the team is humming along, so the ramp up is a little easier. I think it brings a lot of value. Yeah,

we talked about this before. I'm not saying like, obviously A D loves basketball, but you could tell like he wasn't enjoying like the beginning of the season, right, I mean, it's pretty clear basketball is not a robotic game, right, It's not played on Excel spreadsheets, It's it's seen it's playing through like you can see people's emotions and faces, and he was just they was he was just not trying to do that early season and um, and he

got hurt and now he's out for extended time. And so like you can see starting him him starting to post on I G like loading and hyperbolic chamber pictures and like just excited to get back on the court. And that's what you want to see, right, You want to see your stars like want to go out and play.

And I feel like when he comes back, no matter the seating or Lebron's Lebron's, Lebron's played well the whole season, but you know, just to see a d trying to come back and be hyped up to play again, and you know he got a forced rest. I mean, I feel like this schedule was tough for anyone, but I mean, at least for those guys, they got a nice break from it. And I hope he comes back with a

rejuvenation that we thought we'd see. Right, A twenty seven year old mega star just got paid in Los Angeles, the one b you know, biggest biggest name in l A sports, new sports, uh sports basketball. So like I just want to see him come out with like a renewed sense of like, Okay, it's time to go. This is I'm about to take over. Because you know, it's a lot of conversations people are saying bed yr Kich are all m VP candidates, right, eight should be in

that mix. That's the talent level that this guy has. So I want to see him come That's what I really want to see. That's my main thing. I'm not worried about Lebron like I think he's gonna come back and be Lebron James. That's what he is. Eighties the one I want to see come back. And you know, look not look like the bubble form, but just that aggressiveness getting to the basket, offensive, rebounding putbacks. That's when

you know he's like engaged into a game. Um, the mid range jumpers are there, they look cool, they look pretty when they go in. But that's that's when I want to see come back. And I think we'll see a rejuvenated Anthony Davis um coming back coming back here. You can hear me. Yeah, So as far as Anthony Davis goes, I mean you made a good point, Like he came in. I think I think the criticism of Anthony Davis before his injury was legitimate. You know, Don't

get me wrong. He had a stretch there right at the end where we all knew he was banged up. That was different. But at the start of the season he came out with less fervor than we were hoping,

you know coming into the season that that is legitimate criticism. Um, But you're right between him struggling and the in the ascent of Joel Embiide and Nicola Yokich, Like, dude, you've got a big herod in front of you now, Like if we don't, if we don't see a physically aggressive, dominant Anthony Davis, like I'd be concerned a little bit in terms of just his mentality. Now, I think he will be I think I think he'll come back health permitting. I think he'll come back and try to take a

league by storm. Um. But my thing is, like, you know, if you look at the way Lebron has been in his whole career, it's like Katie Rises, Janice Rises, Steph Rises. He always wants to meet and ascend above them. And Anthony Davis, you know, like he we know the talents there what he did in the bubble is on the same level as what joe El Embiad has done in this regular season, and Anthony Davis does have that potentially you make a great point like he should be in

that conversation. Okay, fine, you get a pass because of the quick turnaround, and you get a pass because of the injury. But in this playoff run, if you're healthy, and then going into next year, in a normal off season, in a normal UH training camp up and everything, this has to be what it is man UH and and Laker Nation is gonna hold you to that, and as I think they should, because they mortgage their entire future for it was worth it. They got a title. Don't

get me wrong. It's not a failure by any stretch of the image imagination. But you have the physical talent and and all of the tools you need to do what Yokich is doing and to do what Joel Embiad is doing, so I think I think he needs to do it. And and you know, people in the in the solo pot I did last week, someone asked, like, you know, how many more titles do you see the Lakers winning or do you think they can win a couple more titles, and I absolutely do, but it depends

on one thing. It depends on Anthony Davis's ascent to mirror Lebron's descent. For every chunk of elite, high end, star level NBA basketball that Lebron loses each summer, you know, Anthony Davis has to gain that and and if he doesn't, then you know that they won't be in the In these conversations, uh, you know, as teams that can compete for a title. But I'm just laying out, you know what the expectation is. But for the record, health permitting,

I do expect him to succeed. And Lebron's skill set as he fades, still complements Anthony Davis really well. You can imagine a six ft nine, two seventy pound Jason Kidd at age thirty nine, you know, running running the offense, not not being the same physically dominant force, but just using his brain to unlock Anthony Davis, who at that phase hopefully is kind of like Joel Embiid is now just this unbelievable, unstoppable offensive force with Defensive Player of

the Year capability on the other end. That that that's the way that it has to look and I think it's one okay to hold those guys accountable to that. Like if if if a d s a ten to fifteen best player in the league, you can be a lot more relaxed about this kind of stuff. But you, I think you called him the second best player in

the league this summer. I called him the fourth best player in the league this summer, and I was lower on him than a lot of Laker Nation, And so I think we we have vaulted him to the point where he should have that kind of expectation. Yeah, we talked about when you're when you go up to like top five, you're splitting hairs right between the top five players.

I mean you're you're going through what Lebron, Katie h James Harden regular season, James Harden, um uh, Anthony Davis, Khi Leonard, all those dudes are, you know, insanely great players. I just and your kitchen people are putting him in there this season as well. You're splitting hairs on who you're picking on that. My thing is like Lebron still one pretty clearly. I mean I feel like if you

pull anyone, he's still won. Um. I don't see him dropping like five spots and however you want to rank again, these rankings are so superficial that's it's hard to even like talk about it. But you know, I don't think if he's dropping like four or five, e d needs to stay in that top five level though, because I think that's the talent level he has. Because that's how

the Lakers are gonna build their roster going forward. Right, they don't have all these um, you know, picks and all that stuff to trade that was all owned by New Orleans now, so they have to be smart around the margins which they have. They picked up, you know, a twenty seven year old point above average starting point guard. They picked up a twenty seven year old, you know, monstered score off the bench. All those dudes have faults, but you don't get them without faults, Like it's just

how it would be. Um, people want shooter, you know, just to shoot forty pc from three and be a good passer and score at the rim. That's an all star. Like that's you're not you know, that's you're just not getting that any any time. Where they want Harold to be this lockdown defensive big and score twenty points a game like you that those are all star level talents. So Lakes go build the roster around the margins around

those two guys being top five level players. And I think they can be and you have to be to beat some of the teams like the Nets and all that out here, and he has a capability to do it. We saw it with our own eyes. He was the best defensive player in the playoffs. I don't think that was a question. He logged shut down a Houston team that has, you know, two really strong ego dudes, and he shut down a Portland's team. And it's just like

he has it in him. It's just that that has to come out during this this end of the season here, Yeah, that you make a great point, like it's it's like Lebron and a d are theoretically going to kind of trade spots over the a few years. Like Lebron is gonna descend from the best player in the league to like the fourth or fifth best player in the league, and Anthony Davis has to ascend to being, you know,

the second or third best player in the league. And the Lakers are always going to be a destination for the Andre Drummonds and the best mid level exception guys and the best biennial exception guys, and the best uh you know, guys who forced their way out via trade, you know, and whatever it is. They they have that flexibility. And then you couple that with Frank Vogel and excellent defensive scheming and Lebron's brain on the offensive end of the floor, like there is a pathway, even in Lebron's

old age for them to succeed. And you know what, man, if they can somehow stretch this out, uh to where talent Horton Tucker can actually be a genuinely impactful uh NBA starter, then look out, man, Like it could be, it could get It could be really really good for a long time. But that's how it has to be. It's it's no different than what the Lakers did in

the two thousand Tents with Kobe and Shack. You gotta find a way to bridge the gap, you know, like you ride Shack, and then when it's done with act, you gotta find a way to make sure that that Kobe can be the guy. And and who's going to be the guy that's next to Kobe? Okay, it's pow And you know, as Phil Jackson, the guy that can lead us from a strategic standpoint, like you've got to find a way to bridge the gap otherwise you're gonna end up in a situation like what happened earlier this

decade where the wheels came off. So that to me is is that is that key and and you know, so much of that is gonna come down to health obviously, but also it's just about making those decisions on the margins and uh and uh a d s development because as good as Anthony Davis says, he can be so much better, you know, like there's significant opportunity for improvement.

They're still even at his age, you know, and I think he's twenty eight, But there's a version of Anthony Davis that could be, uh, you know, an even more dynamic offensive player. And then his physical tools are going to stay with him for at least another four or five years. Exactly when you talked about slow with drumming, like Drummond, the first time he was on a good team really is this year, right, like them a competent team, right,

like a championship competent level team. Well, Anthony David's first time on that was last year. Right, that was his first time on like a good title team, learning what it means to like have every single game is like a win lose. If you lose, it's you know, it's it's a panic situation for Laker fans kind of thing. So he's still learning that and like, I think he's learning how to play, like with the low motor and all that, like, because I feel like he went hard.

He goes hard a lot, and now like this year, he was kind of learning how to, um, you know, walk through games and then try to go play at the end and and still stay in a rhythm like Lebron does. Lebron can kind of fall asleep for three quarters and have a twenty five point fourth quarter. Like it's just things he can do. And Anthony Davis just hasn't learned how to do that yet. And he'll pick that up as we goove on. And yeah, I think

he'll be fine. And he's gonna have to be first to win for this to win this year, and the longer he spends around Lebron, the more he's going to pick up on those little tricks of the trade to being the best player in the league. And I think that's the that's the that's the added value of having Lebron around even as he gets older. And I I'm just I'm stoked because I feel bad that Kobe didn't get to have that experience, and the injury was to blame.

But I'm sad that Kobe didn't get to have that experience like that late phase of his career where he's a fringe top ten fifteen player, but he can use his brain and his you know, aura, his persona to continue to add value. Chris Paul is right there, Chris Paul Man, we had him for three hours. I'll never forget those three hours. I talked way too much craft for three hours and then it was gone, So I'll never forget that. Yeah, we're sad we didn't get that.

UM all right, everybody. I am so sincerely sorry about this WiFi situation. I have decided after this ship show, UM that I will not ever try to do this again in this house. I will figure out a temporary solution off site where I have better WiFi so I don't have to worry about this anymore. For the downloaded podcast, I will edit out those cuts so it'll flow a little bit more smooth. For the handful of you guys

who stuck through that ship show. I sincerely appreciate you guys and UH and I appreciate your patience and understanding rage. I hope you have a good rest of your week. You want to go again on Friday, Let's do it, all right, man, I will see you then. Sounds good, alright, but